Camp Nursing Career Overview

Camp nursing is a specialty of nursing that focuses on working at a camp to take care of the health needs of the campers. Usually this means working with kids. Age of the camp population can vary depending on its type.

Some camp nurses work locally near their homes, and others travel to the location and stay for the duration of the camp term, which is most often at least part of the summer. In this work, camp nurses will perform a number of jobs.

If you want to become a camp nurse, one of your jobs is to take care of and assess the health of any child that gets ill or gets injured. This may mean close supervision of children, including taking basic vitals and determining whether a physician or emergency services are needed. Camp nurses may have rooms set up for sick children to stay, to minimize contact with rest of the camping population and so that children needing help receive more attentive and watchful care.

Another aspect of your job for as a camp nurse is to oversee the health of those children with chronic medical conditions. Camp nurses usually maintain files on any children with additional health risks, and they may need to perform regular checks to be certain these kids remain healthy.

One part of this work can be overseeing regular medication dosage. Many children need one or more medications, and a camp nurse would dispense these as ordered each day so that a child remains medication compliant. Each nurse derives a system for keeping medications safe and separate from those meds that are designated for other kids.
If you want to become a camp nurse, you need education and training in nursing. You may start by becoming a registered nurse. In addition, you may also benefit from gaining at least some experience working with children. Some, however, may become licensed practical nurses or even nursing assistants instead, working as part of a camp’s medical team.

The educational requirements for a person who wants to become a camp nurse depend on the type of nurse he wants to become and the camp at which he plans to work. If a camp is only hiring registered nurses, an aspiring camp nurse will need to secure the education necessary to become a registered nurse and then pass his jurisdiction’s licensing exam.

An individual interested in becoming a camp nurse may also fulfill the requirements by securing the training necessary to become a licensed practical nurse (LPN). Generally, this requires a high school diploma or its equivalent followed by training in a jurisdiction-approved LPN program.

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